a few random e34 questions

[BigTed00]

Hey everyone, new board member and e34 owner here. I just picked up a 535i 5spd after wrecking my e36 328is, and I have to say I couldnt be happier. The e34 just feels much more refined and well-built then the e36 did, and its without a doubt the most comfortable highway car I've ever been in period. Now I understand why yall are so fanatical about the e34

Anyways I have a bunch of random questions about the new ride that I couldnt find answers to searching. First

- Door lock pins. I checked ebay, but there wasnt much there. Anyone know where I can pick up different door lock pins? I drive with my window down and arm resting on the window sill, and those big door pins jab me in the arm. It would be nice if when locked they were flush with the window sill

- Cruise Control doesnt work. I've done a bit of searching but havent gotten very far. IT just straight up doesnt work, and when I try to engauge it I dont hear any noises or anything telling, it just straight up wont work.

- Are there any OBC tricks for the e34? The momo steering wheel blocks my view of the speedo and tach, which really isnt a big deal but with the broken cruise control and the smooth ride its really easy to hit 100+ mph and not even know it. On my e36 there was a trick to display the mph digitailly on the cluster, anything similar on the e34? (after I figure out why its displaying PPPP of course)

[DaCan23]

I've seen chrome replacement pins on Ebay, not sure if they are flush. You can also buy the plastic replacement ones real cheap and maybe dremel them.

With the cruise, have you checked the fuses? Do you have the triangle light on in the middle of the cluster?


Hey everyone, new board member and e34 owner here. I just picked up a 535i 5spd after wrecking my e36 328is, and I have to say I couldnt be happier. The e34 just feels much more refined and well-built then the e36 did, and its without a doubt the most comfortable highway car I've ever been in period. Now I understand why yall are so fanatical about the e34

Anyways I have a bunch of random questions about the new ride that I couldnt find answers to searching. First

- Door lock pins. I checked ebay, but there wasnt much there. Anyone know where I can pick up different door lock pins? I drive with my window down and arm resting on the window sill, and those big door pins jab me in the arm. It would be nice if when locked they were flush with the window sill

- Cruise Control doesnt work. I've done a bit of searching but havent gotten very far. IT just straight up doesnt work, and when I try to engauge it I dont hear any noises or anything telling, it just straight up wont work.

- Are there any OBC tricks for the e34? The momo steering wheel blocks my view of the speedo and tach, which really isnt a big deal but with the broken cruise control and the smooth ride its really easy to hit 100+ mph and not even know it. On my e36 there was a trick to display the mph digitailly on the cluster, anything similar on the e34? (after I figure out why its displaying PPPP of course)

[BigTed00]

I've seen chrome replacement pins on Ebay, not sure if they are flush. You can also buy the plastic replacement ones real cheap and maybe dremel them.

With the cruise, have you checked the fuses? Do you have the triangle light on in the middle of the cluster?

fuses seem to be in proper order, and I dont have the triangle light on in the middle on the cluster. Which reminds me, the triangle light on the hazard light switch just went out yesterday, dont know if thats related or not

[DanDombrowski]

My cruise control didn't work when I got my car. After replacing a few broken vacuum hoses under the intake for an unrelated problem, the cruise control worked again. Check for broken vacuum lines right behind the throttle body.

[Alexlind123]

There are ticks for the OBC. Do a search.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Those may make it hard to get out of the car once it's locked.

I have to pull up on mine to unlock the doors

[dacoyote]

Those may make it hard to get out of the car once it's locked.

I have to pull up on mine to unlock the doors

Pulling the door latch twice should unlock and open the doors...

[McWatters]

My car doesnt lock when im isinde. haha dunno whats goin on with that.

cheers

J.McWatters

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

learned something new

[Alexlind123]

Mine locks when im inside if i push the lock pin down. Pulling the door handle works for me.

[BigTed00]

There are ticks for the OBC. Do a search.

thanks, but I did and didnt find anything (hench the OP!). I tried obc tricks, trick, function, functions, and nothing came up.

As for the door lock, mine opens when I pull the handle as well. Maybe yours is broken?

[SRR2]

Not on the first year or two of the model. IIRC, 89 and 90 for sure, and maybe one year later, you had to pull up the botton to open the door. With the button down, the interior handle was decoupled from the mechanism -- at least it was on my car.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

I thought that was too easy

[Paul in NZ]

you can set the obc to give you a warning,limit function press limit,press 1000.1000 10 1 as required(ha) to set you r speed then hit s/r once,little red light comes on when you exceed your limit.ding,limit,The ppp might prevent it from working.....

[mikell]

Cruise Control - check the brake light switch, it has 2 circuits, one for brakes, one for cruise. Check the bowden cable from the actuator. The actuator could be dead - replacement from ebay? Forum member Cambridge has a neat website where he dissects the actuator its posted in the forum, try the search function. Control module - no clue how to decide if that's working. Cruise switch on column - check with meter for contacts. Speed sensor - if you speedo is working, that's probably okay, but I don't know how to check it.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your efforts and results.

[BigTed00]

Cruise Control - check the brake light switch, it has 2 circuits, one for brakes, one for cruise. Check the bowden cable from the actuator. The actuator could be dead - replacement from ebay? Forum member Cambridge has a neat website where he dissects the actuator its posted in the forum, try the search function. Control module - no clue how to decide if that's working. Cruise switch on column - check with meter for contacts. Speed sensor - if you speedo is working, that's probably okay, but I don't know how to check it.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your efforts and results.

I appreciate the reply. I'm still waiting on my bently manual to arrive, and if it does by this weekend I'm going to try and tackle the cruise control, and this gives me a good place to start

On another note, my windows are being a pain. The problem is only 1 window can go down at once. If two people try to put thier windows down, only 1 will go down. This is a huge PITA since I cant both put the window down and open the sunroof at the same time. Thoughts?

[JonE]

One window at a time is probably what you're stuck with, I know, it's annoying. Try this site for OBC tricks, the 7series of same era was very similar to our E34 OBC, http://home.iae.nl/users/bts/obc.htm

[SC David]

Just saw your sig. Did you buy Mihai's car?

[Nick.Hay]

I reckon flush lock pins would look damn sexy!! I thought about the mod on my E34. However, if you have a door-lock failure, there's gonna be issues.

[BigTed00]

I reckon flush lock pins would look damn sexy!! I thought about the mod on my E34. However, if you have a door-lock failure, there's gonna be issues.

I still would ike to try and find a solution to flush door lock pins, it bothers more then that PPPP error.

SC David, yes that was Mihai's car, and its a sick ride :D

[nk530]

One window at a time is probably what you're stuck with, I know, it's annoying. Try this site for OBC tricks, the 7series of same era was very similar to our E34 OBC, http://home.iae.nl/users/bts/obc.htm

this is another e32 page, but it has the same obc as the e34. go to this site: http://bmwe32.masscom.net/ and click on Information and on OBC Secrets.

Hope it helps your pppp problem.

nate

[nk530]

this is another e32 page, but it has the same obc as the e34. go to this site: http://bmwe32.masscom.net/ and click on Information and on OBC Secrets.

Hope it helps your pppp problem.

nate

sorry, Jon, i guess we're essentially talking about the same site.

[VentoGT]

I wanted to bump this thread as I can't stand the door pins either--my car is a 1991 M5 and the handle does nothing when the car is locked--you HAVE to pull up on the pin to unlock the car....

Has anyone done anything about this? Could maybe retrofit in a newer door latch that will let you tug once on the handle to unlock/twice to open [even just pulling once to open would be fine with me]...

Having your arm killing you from resting it on the sill is not fun...

[chris_e34]

when i purchased my car i had the same cruise control issue. a few different bmw techs looked at it multiple times and they all told me it was most likeley the cruise control unit (apparently a common failure at high mileage over 100k, according to them) the part number is 65711387625. Its around 450 list so id make sure none of the other suggestions in this thread dont take care of the problem first.

[BigTed00]

I wanted to bump this thread as I can't stand the door pins either--my car is a 1991 M5 and the handle does nothing when the car is locked--you HAVE to pull up on the pin to unlock the car....

Has anyone done anything about this? Could maybe retrofit in a newer door latch that will let you tug once on the handle to unlock/twice to open [even just pulling once to open would be fine with me]...

Having your arm killing you from resting it on the sill is not fun...

hear hear, let see if we can figure out a solution to the door pins fast, it drives me insane

[VentoGT]

Glad that I am not the only one who suffers from this door pin issue...any ideas from anyone?